Pine City Council moves meetings to first, third Wednesday evenings

After moving to one meeting a month during July and August, the Pine City Council voted to amend its meeting schedule on Wednesday night.

Going forward, the council will now meet on the first and third Wednesday of the month at 5:30 p.m. The move also shifts the meeting time an hour earlier from 6:30 p.m.

The council previously held a morning meeting at 10 a.m. on the third Thursday of each month — initially conceived for work sessions and planning.

"I really, strongly believe that we need to change our second meeting to a business meeting," council member Dan Swanson said at Wednesday's meeting. "Especially during the fourth quarter ... there's going to be potentially a number of actionable items that are going to come before the council, and once a month in October, November, and December I don't believe is enough. And I also think we need to listen to the people, and I think we need to move it to the evening."

Mayor Kent Bombard added that he felt fine about bringing business items back to the second meeting of the month if business needs to be taken care of, but spoke in favor of continuing to have a morning meeting.

"I think offering a morning meeting or a daytime meeting also is important to those folks who don't work 9 to 5," Bombard said.

"I would agree with that if we had anybody in the audience during the daytime meeting," Swanson responded.

The vote passed in a 3-2 vote, with Swanson, Dave Hill, and Kyle Palmer voting yes, and Gina Pettie and Bombard voting no.